Why Kpop will not sweep America (and it's not why you think)

"he sings a bunch of manufactured crap designed to be catchy to teenagers, and he looks like a girl"

Does that describe G Dragon or Justin Bieber? (I don't know either).

Recently, one of the top groups in Korea, Girls Generation, debuted on David Letterman. No small feat for a group that has never had to sing in English before. They seemed to impress and Bill Murray, who was the main guest of the night, seemed to be impressed. However, the notion that Girls Generation, or in Korean SNSD will "conquer America" like the Spice Girls is far fetched. But not because they are "crap", because the Spice Girls were also crap, heck the Beatles 1964 stuff was pop crap too (don't say that to anyone over 50, but it's true. "I wanna hold your hand"? Sounds like a Bieber track to me) and it's only because of their 1967 stuff that they have transcended generations. The reason is because no one CAN "conquer America" anymore. Technology has destroyed that.

When the Beatles came to America there were really only two ways to get your music out, radio and TV. Well back then people actually listened to the radio, and they had to listen to what was on it. I imagine lots of fighting over what radio station people would listen to in the car. But either way you HAD to listen to the Beatles. The other option was TV. When the Beatles played Ed Sullivan America was watching, because there were only two other channels and when Sullivan was on they played Cold War update or housewife life or whatever passed for filler TV in 1964. So really, everyone was watching. Our parents were mezmerised by the goofy hair and our grandparents were furious at these British communists on Sullivan but everyone was talking about them and they were on the radio and TV.

Fast forward to 1996. Spice Girls. Spice World. The girl group of all time. By this time people had CD players and cassette decks in their car, but there was no real internet. Music Television actually played music and people still listened to the radio. Sure it wasn't as easy as "play Sullivan" but you COULD release an album and have it on every radio station, then go on MTV and do performances. Also, people still bought CD's, so your record would sell. In short, it was still very possible to "conquer America".

2012 - Kids have laptops and youtube and MP3 players. The radio is dead except for talk radio designed for people over 50 (who still use the radio). MTV plays reality TV. In short, what the 16 year olds are listening to is alien to their parents. Even someone as famous as Lady Gaga or Justin Bieber never "conquered America". They built a core of fans over time and then played Letterman. The fact is that it's very reasonable to expect that many 50 year olds have never heard of Lady Gaga, or at least have never heard any of her songs. This was simply not possible in other era's. Never hearing a Beatles or Stones song in the 60's? A Michael Jackson or Dire Straits song in the 80's? Nirvana or Alanis Morisette in the 90's? Impossible NOT to hear them.

In writing this I did a bit of research (google) and found out that the winner of 2010 MTV Music Awards best album is a band called Arcade Fire. I'll save everyone a bit on embarassement by admitting that I'd never really heard of them either. I mean the name kinda sounds vaguely familiar, like something a 20 year old cousin posted on their Facebook kinda thing, but not really. Certainly there has been no equivalent of what happened with Nirvana or Alanis Morisette or Smashing Pumpkins when I was a teen. But here's the thing. Who over 20 is watching the MTV music awards? Where could someone over 22 be exposed regularly to Lady Gaga or Justin Bieber unless they actively search it out? Remember when you were 20 and going to bars and there'd be that one guy who was like 30-35 and still doing the bands and bars and while you kinda thought it was cool that he was staying young you also had that thought that when he started coming to these shows you were in grade 4? He knew all the bands that the 19 year olds were in to and all his friends were 19-26. That guy is the only guy left who might be able to fill in the generation gap, but lets be honest, wouldn't you rather be out of the loop than be that guy? That 1964 family drive where kids and parents argue over radio is dead because now kid sits in the back seat with their Ipod listening to Arcade Fire and Dad is up front with his Eagles record and maybe younger uncle has Dire Straits or Nirvana on his headphones. At home they plug their headset in and listen to whatever on youtube. Heck at 30 I almost never watch TV on the TV. I have the internet and a bigish monitor. The only time a 20 year old son and his 50 year old Dad are watching TV together is a sporting event.

This is why SNSD will never conquer America. Not because their polished act, catchy songs and sex appeal won't sell them, but because there is no Ed Sullivan or MTV to debut on. If they play long and hard in America they could very well attract a fan base of teens and 20 somethings, but for those in Korea who want a Spice Girls type explosion of Kpop I think they will be disappointed. Those days are long over.